i’ve been asked to give my take on IRA so here it is: the bill contains some very good, very needed investments: in renewable energy, in a green bank, in electrifying key tech in homes, in credits for EV purchases, etc.

it also weds those investments to very major harms 1/ whether that’s fossil fuel leases or the mountain valley pipeline or permitting reform or technologies that directly and indirectly harm frontline communities or tech that will likely be exploited to prolong our dependence in fossil fuels –

the list of bad things is long 2/

i know that this article came out last week, but i wanted to spend the weekend thinking about black people – not racism – so i kept my thoughts to myself. but believe me, I HAVE THOUGHTS. and most of my thoughts are about how mad this makes me 1/
nytimes.com/2020/06/18/cli… of course, i'm mad because black mothers, families, and children are suffering and, in some cases, dying because of systemic racism. but i'm also mad because, once again, racial capitalism has led us to build *stupid* systems that will inevitably collapse in on themselves. 2/

my op-ed for the @nytimes came out today, and i'm prouder of it than i've been of anything in a long time.

i know i'm supposed to write a long thread linking to facts and follow-up, but the thing i want to say most is that i almost didn't write it. 1/

nytimes.com/2020/04/15/opi… one of the weird things about amassing more power (/moving up in your career/becoming a leader/getting older) is that people want to hear what *you* think. you're allowed to speak clearly and without qualifiers. you have earned, somehow, the right to have an opinion. 2/

the US had a uniquely fragile economy largely because we have a uniquely racialized approach to capitalism that is invested in upholding white supremacy and sexism coupled with deep deregulation (esp. for corps) + disinvestment based in neoliberal theories of political economy. and we have reaffirmed these choices for decades in some cases and for centuries in others. but the disasters we're facing now exploit (and honestly thrive on) these structures. and because we have invested in them so deeply and for so long –

newyorker.com/culture/cultur…

what if we stopped asking every white dude what they think about every single problem as though we all need it? 1/ seriously, forget wind and solar – white men's unnecessary opinions have got to be our most untapped and INFINITE renewable energy source. we just gotta figure out a way to hook some turbines to them, so then at least we'll get something out of them. 2/

i'm glad that the house dems are coming up with a plan to deal with climate but before anyone forgets, the first GND resolution asked to create a committee to plan the GND and it was declined. and now this? 1/
nytimes.com/2019/07/23/cli… i just don't get it. why frame it as an alternative to the GND? why wait months to create it? why not reach out to the folks working on the GND to talk? i mean we're not on opposite sides. if you're building consensus, why not speak to us? 2/

i'm so tired of these constant arguments about vision vs. incrementalism. all of the articles basically say the same thing.

can we get some new angles? some new voices? this deserves to be talked about as more than a DC, intraparty squabble. 1/

nytimes.com/2019/03/29/us/… besides, this framing always misses the most important ?s: what policies do we need to SOLVE the problem? how do everyday folks - not just elites – define the problem? what are they asking us to solve? how do we do that? who is suffering and how do we serve them *fully*? 2/

hello buds! first, i want to apologize for being absent. i know it's nice to necessary, but lots of y'all have devoted time and energy to engaging with me, and i feel bad about not responding as much as i used to.

but can i be honest about something? 1/ SPOILER ALERT: this thread is about feelings. i have spent the last two weeks having non-stop convos about the GND, and i don't have the energy to talk more about it tonight. honestly, i don't have the energy to be anything but human right now. 2/

politico.com/story/2019/03/…

"...the $93 trillion figure does not appear anywhere in the think tank’s report — and AAF President Douglas Holtz-Eakin confessed he has no idea how much exactly the Green New Deal would cost."

bruh. "'Is it billions or trillions?' asked Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. 'Any precision past that is illusory.'"

Bruh.

that brings us to door #5 – our last and final door – sweet buds.

DOOR 5: YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT COSTS WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT BENEFITS AND THE COST OF INACTION. 26/ even if we do nothing, the climate crisis will cost us money. (NASA estimates that climate change cost the U.S. $91 billion just last year.) and some argue that the estimates of economic loss are likely too low b/c it's so difficult to estimate second-order effects. 27/

🚨 ALERT ALERT 🚨 it's time for a new episode of debunking myths about the #GreenNewDeal. today we're talking the recent $93T cost estimate for the GND and why it's a problem.

warning – this one might get a little feisty, but i'm gonna try to keep my nerves under control. 1/ to keep things fun, i'm gonna structure this as a game (since they're clearly playing by releasing this estimate). i'm gonna present 5 doors. behind each is an explanation for why the estimate is flawed. the grand prize is that you never have to think about this again! 2/

i loved this interview. not just because delong points that the political alignment you need to support centrist policies does not exist, but because he is open about the fact that centrist policies are often not the best or most effective policies. vox.com/policy-and-pol… and that's not a dig at centrist policy! rather, it's an acknowledgement that all policy is influenced by political considerations and ideologies about what is the most desired/desirable political economy.

y’all – i’m trying to break out of my friday funk but folks are killing me when it comes to this feinstein-sunrise video. the full video does not make it better, imo. i actually tried to watch the whole thing before the shorter version but it made me too sad. 1/ 12 min, 2 minutes – it doesn’t matter how long the convo lasted; she still said those sentences TO CHILDREN. i don’t talk to adults like that! an internship offer doesn’t erase that. 2/

this is gonna be a bit of a rant, sweet baby angels. but i've got to get it off my chest before i explode into tears. obvi, feel free to exit now but if you're down for the ride, let's take a deep breath and start this journey. 1/ i have spent the last three weeks answering questions about why justice is such a central component of the #GreenNewDeal. and i have tried to compose thoughtful, data-filled answers that lay out the economic and political reasons why that is the case. 2/

hello buds! it's time for our next session of "debunking myths about the #GreenNewDeal." today we're gonna talk about how WWII mobiliization REALLY went down b/c i've been seeing a lot of folks claiming that the GND will be centrally planned like WWII. as per us, this is not true. BUT telling you exactly why would take lots of time. (WWII mobilization was a wild ride, y'all.) i'm gonna summarize all i can, but if you have questions, let me know! (i'm no WWII historian, but i'll do my best.) 3/

i’m clearly not on twitter much, and this is gonna be a thread so bear with me 😂 but i’ve been seeing a lot of coverage accusing the green new deal of being a "wish list" of progressive policies for including anything unrelated to climate. it's just not true. 1/ all of the policies in the GND are either clearly about 1) making the investments to tackle climate change; 2) about how to leverage those investments to create jobs; or 3) how to ensure that EVERYONE can participate in a green economy. 2/